Reed College Research Reactor
The only nuclear reactor operated by undergraduates
Manned by a staff of 40 undergraduate students, the Reed College Research Reactor has been in use as a research and teaching facility since 1968, and is the only liberal arts college in the world with a nuclear reactor.
the technical details, according to their web site: “The Reed College Reactor is a TRIGA Mark I water-cooled, “swimming pool” reactor at the bottom of a 25-foot-deep tank. It uses 58 zirconium hydride/uranium hydride fuel elements in a circular grid array. The uranium fuel is enriched to 20 percent in uranium-235. The reactor is surrounded by a graphite ring which minimizes neutron leakage by reflecting neutrons back into the core.”
In order to be part of the team that works with the reactor, students must get a license from the school, which is based on a 3-hour written exam and 4-hour walk through-operational-oral exam administered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington DC. Since Reed does not have a nuclear engineering department (or any engineering department), the staff comes from a broad selection of academic majors, primarily the sciences but including nearly every major including English, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Economics, Political Science.
The primary purpose of the reactor is to produce neutrons, which are used for research. The reactor produces 250 kilowatts of heat, about 10 times as much as a home furnace, which they currently do not use.
In 2005 ABC News sent an team to investigate the security of the reactor along with several other university reactors. Although they found the Reed reactor locked behind several doors, they questioned why a school with no engineering program needed to maintain such a device.
The reactor receives about 1000 visitors a year, often from other schools.
The College also offers a 40-hour Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) Class, is licensed by the State of Oregon to perform calibrations of radiation survey meters (for a fee).
Read more about Reed College Research Reactor on Atlas Obscura…
Category: Strange Science, Inspired Inventions, Instruments of Science
Location: Oregon, US
Edited by: Annetta, Dylan